Mobile Banking of bkash in Bangladesh

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Premier University
B.B.A
Course Title: Banking and Insurance
Semester :6th Section “A”
22 Batch
12/20/2013

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B.B.A
Banking & Insurance
Assignment on: Mobile banking of bkash in Bangladesh
Submitted to
Lecture: Ms.Tasmia Tahlil
Department of Finance
Faculty of Business Administration
Premier University, Chittagong.
Group: B

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Prepared By:
.
Md. Ariful Islam Saimon Chy
1022114412
.
Md.Shahadat Hossain
1022114372
.
Rasheda Sharmin
1022114388
.
Md.Shazzad Hossain
1022114384
.
Imteaj Ibna Hossain
1021114362
.
Md. Rashed
1022114413

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Executive Summary
Use of mobile phone has increased incredibly in Bangladesh and people are becoming familiar with
many services that can be provided with mobile phone. BRAC bank, a leading private bank in
Bangladesh, understood the opportunity of exploiting the increasing trend of using mobile phone in
providing financial services. With the objective of providing financial services to every corner of
Bangladesh through mobile phone, it along with Money in Motion LLC, USA established bkash. Today
it has expanded its services to the most of the part of Bangladesh and has connected thousands of people
to its service within a very few short time of its inception. Through bkash one can do a great deal of
transaction without having a bank account and even without holding cash physically. Depositing,
withdrawing, Transferring money, making payment, getting remittance, using ATM, getting statements
– all can be done through bkash and at a very low cost. The most important thing is that one only needs
a mobile phone and bkash account and nothing more to get all the services. It provides fully secured
services using advanced technology of VISA. In a word, bkash has introduced a new world of using
mobile phone in Bangladesh as well as a new world of financial services.
Introduction
The advancement of new technologies has introduced many inventions in the field of Finance which
make the financial system more comprehensive, speedier and more convenience. Mobile phone is one of
the latest inventions of modern science and has already got a wide acceptance throughout the world. Its
wide use brings the opportunity to involve it in the financial system as a medium of providing financial
services. The services provided through mobile phone have thus got the name of “Mobile Financial
Services”. It is completely different from the narrowest form ‘SMS Banking’ because here a completely
different procedure is used. One does not have to open a bank account rather a Mobile Account to get
the services. In Bangladesh, Mobile financial services have got its popularity very recently and bkash is
the most influencing organization behind this popularity.
Background of the study:
In Bangladesh we use bkash is only possible by BRAC bank Ltd. and it is a joint venture
between brac bank Ltd, Bangladesh and moray motion of USA. 80% of population of Bangladesh live in
village arid about 50% of them have mobile phones wants to utilize this opportunity by its huge network
though a Lange number of retailers and agents to provide facility of transferring many from one place to
or other by charging a tees which may be the least than other financial org . Such as (Banks kouiess
ok. ) at minimum time by which they can make a profit and can leat the financial musket. It is basically
emphasis to serve lower income people who have mobile phones and are in need to transfer and perceive
money from or to

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Table of content
Serial
No.
Contents Page No.
1. Objectives of the study
1
2. Problems of the study 1
3. Scope of bkash
2
4. Methodology 2
5. Literature review 3
6. Company profile 4
7. About bkash:
I. Services provided by bkash.
II. Mission of bkash.
III. Board of directors.
IV. Terms and definition.
V. How to open a bkash account.
VI. Other procedures.
5
5
6
7
7
8-12
8. Tariff and limits
13
9. Bkash shopping
14
10. Partners
15
11. Benefits
15
12. Research 26

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1. Objectives of the study:
 Main objective of our study is to identify the role of bkash in changing the life of people.
 Supporting objectives are:
 To know the reimbursement of using b- kash mobile banking .
 To know what are the services provided by b- kash & how it serve its customer
 To know what are the persons behind using bkash than other monetary service available
instead of.
 To know what are the areas cover and or served by b- kash.
 To know the customer contentment in using B- kash.
 To know the framework of Bkash
 To find opportunities for bkash.
2. Problems of the study:
Study was confined within Chittagong whether the result would roof rafted the actual result.
→ This service is dealing with the people who have mobile phones. So the people who do not
have mobile phones are not adopted here which can be mismatch.
→ Sample size is too small to represent the actual result.
→ Shortage of knowledge about mobile phone is another constraint as limitations of the study.
→ Retailers or agents go rot interest to shave some confidential information which is needed for
us for study purpose.

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→ Some users are known a little bit about this service which is not sufficient to us .
3.0Scope of the study:
This study as well as bkash served its services within the boundary of Bangladesh . Almost in
every districts are served by b- kash though its huge network consists of agents retailers etc. A summary
is given below:
4.0 Methodology:
The study has been conducted based on both primary and secondary data. The primary data was
collected from 150 respondents who all are bkash users. Respondents were randomly selected from rural

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and urban areas in Bangladesh. For this a structured questionnaire was developed including both open
ended and close ended questions. The study used some factors like transaction time, cash out facilities,
numbers of outlays, area coverage, service charges, 24/7 service, virtual wallet facilities, secured
transaction to analyze the bkash users opinion towards the service. After collecting the data from the
survey as well as from other published sources, interpretation was made by using simple parentage
analysis .A well structured questionnaire used as a data analysis tool. Finally based on the survey results
the study provided some recommendations.
5.0 Literature Review
Mobile payments can be defined as the use of a mobile device to conduct a payment
dealing in which cash or funds are transferred from a payer to a receiver via an
intermediary, or directly without an intermediary (Niina Mallat, 2006). Mobile phone is
now the best electronic device which is most popular and reached all classes of people
without considering geographical, economical, and cultural boundaries. Mobile phone
users are approaching the three billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, and advertisers
and operators both are keenly attentive to the chance to attach with potential consumers
through mobile phones (Hibberd, 2007). Mobile money transfer is more secure and cost
effective than alternative methods of money transfer, such as using couriers or friends
(Hughes and Lonie, 2007). In order to discuss the success story of mobile money transfer,
Comninos (2008) opined the initial success of Kenya’s mobile money transfer industry
which can be attributed to the high demand for remittances generated by rural/urban
migration, whereas its rapid scaling is because of the mobile providers’ growth strategy.
(Boyd & Jacob, 2007) clearly divided Mobile Financial Services (MFS) in two broad
ways: mobile banking (m-banking) and mobile payments (m-payments). Mobile banking
is outlined as “a channel whereby the customer interacts with a bank via a mobile device,
such as a mobile phone or personal digital assistant (PDA)” (Barnes & Corbitt, 2003). On
the basis of an ethnographic study conducted in Kibera, a slum in Kenya, in 2007
recommend that the incomes of rural mobile money transfer recipients have increased
due to remittances, which have also led to higher savings by households (Morawczynski,
2009). In the same year Kimenyi and Ndung'u (2009) showed the rapid growth of mobile
money and its success story in Kenya depends on four factors: a conducive legal and tax
environment, private-public policy dialogue, strategic and prudent macroeconomic
policies, and a guarantee of the existence of a contestable market discouraging
dominance by initial entrants. Aker and Mbiti (2010) showed that in Kenya current users
of mobile money transfer tend to be wealthier, better educated, urban and already banked,

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with most transfers occurring within urban areas and remittances being smaller but more
frequent. Mbogo (2010) in his experience based on the study of 409 small business
institutions in Kenya said that for micro-businesses, the adoption and continued usage of
mobile money transfer depends on the factors include convenience, support, cost,
satisfaction and security. On the basis of survey of four different regions of Bangladesh
from December 2011to February 2012 tried to know the gradually spreading use of
mobile money in Bangladesh. (R. Atikur, A M Nayeem, T. Rahat Bari).
6.0 Company Profile
bkash Limited, a subsidiary of BRAC Bank, started as a joint venture between BRAC Bank Limited,
Bangladesh and Money in Motion LLC, USA, and in April 2013 International Finance Corporation
(IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, also became an equity partner of the company. The ultimate
objective of bkash is to ensure access to a broader range of financial services for the people of
Bangladesh. It has a special focus to serve the low income masses of the country to achieve broader
financial inclusion by providing services that are convenient, affordable and reliable.
More than 70% of the population of Bangladesh lives in rural areas where access to formal financial
services is difficult. Yet these are the people who are in most need of such services, either for receiving
funds from loved ones in distant locations, or to access financial tools to improve their economic
condition. Less than 15% of Bangladeshis are connected to the formal banking system whereas over
68% have mobile phones. These phones are not merely devices for talking, but can be used for more
useful and sophisticated processing tasks. bkash was conceived primarily to utilize these mobile devices
and the omnipresent telecom networks to extend financial services in a secure manner to the under-
served remote population of Bangladesh.
Year Launched : 2011
Business Model : Consumer
Targeted Device : Basic/Feature Phone
Primary Delivery Technology : SMS/USSD
Products & Services : Payments
Markets Deployed In : Bangladesh
Estimated Number of Users : 2.2 Million
What is bkash?

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B- Kash is the taster means to transfer money from ore Place to another via mobile phone and a simple
secare and (onverient place to store money. Besides b- kash can be used to make payments, pay bills,
puschase items whether physical items whether physical or electronic.
Mobile Banking also known as M-Banking or SMS Banking is a term used for performing
balance check, account transactions, payments, credit applications and other banking transactions
through a mobile device such as a mobile phone. Bkash Limited, a subsidiary of BRAC Bank, is a joint
venture between BRAC Bank Limited, Bangladesh, and Money in Motion LLC, USA. The ultimate
objective of bkash is to ensure access to a broader range of financial services for the people of
Bangladesh.
7.01 Services provided by bkash
Products and Services: Currently bkash is offering wallet to wallet money transfer, money transfer via
token and merchant payments. Many more are to be added soon. A user can register at bkash from any
bkash outlet for free.
Technology: Technology platform of bkash has been developed by Fundamo, the world’s largest
specialist provider of enterprise mobile financial services software which is a VISA company based in
South Africa. Fundamo has completed over 50 successful client deployments in 30 countries all over
the world. bkash mobile wallet is fully encrypted to ensure most secure transactions. bkash system
performs a 2 step verification; one is the Wallet number and the other is a PIN. Each customer chooses a
PIN code for his own against his wallet number and every transaction has to be authorized by that PIN.
Each and every transaction generates a unique transaction ID and sends confirmation SMS with detail to
both payer and payee. bkash wallet remains intact and secured even if the phone is lost. Currently users
access bkash through USSD and will be able to access through IVR, WAP & WEB soon.
Potentials: “bkash presents a compelling business plan which capitalizes on a ripe economy to
dramatically expand access to formal financial services as a full- scale mobile phone-based payment
switch. This will highly benefit the country as 83% of the population lives under $2 a day and access for
finance can help improving the economic situation.”
Customers will be able to receive electronic money into their bkash accounts through salary, loan,
domestic remittance, and other disbursements and eventually will cash out the electronic money at any
of the agents which bkash assigns.
Coverage: The agent network of bkash is currently led by Robi Axiata Limited, one of the largest MNO
in Bangladesh and BRAC, the world’s largest NGO. Agent network is growing every day and will cover
upto the remote areas all over Bangladesh soon. New agent locations are regularly updated at
bkash.com

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7.02 Mission of bkash
By providing financial services that are convenient, affordable and reliable, bkash aims to widen the net
of financial inclusion. bkash wants to provide a solution for Mobile Financial Services, built on a highly
scalable Mobile Money platform, allowing the people of Bangladesh to safely send and receive money
via mobile devices.
7.03 Board of Directors
Mr. Muhammad A. (Rumee) Ali
Chairman
Mr. Shib Narayan Kairy
Director
Mr. Iqbal Quadir
Director
Nihad Kabir
Director
Professor Dr. Jamilur Reza Chy.
Director
Mr. Shameran Abed
Director
7.04 Background and opportunity:

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In Bangladesh, as with many other countries in the developing world, people travel to urban centres to
earn a livelihood so they can support families in rural areas. One fundamental insight driving the
development of bkash was to cater for this growing class of workers, creating an efficient system by
which they could send money home in a secure, fast and affordable way. bkash came up with a simple
USSD interface, accessible by the cheapest (i.e. $15) handset. “Smartphones would make it easy to
implement mobile money, but the service would then be limited to only affluent customers and would
defeat the purpose of reaching the unbanked and poor.”
Registering for bkash and cashing-in services are free of charge. For person-to-person transfers,
customers pay a flat fee of BDT 2 (or $.02) irrespective of the size of the transaction. In case a customer
wants to cash-out, there is a flat fee of 1.85% on the amount withdrawn. For example, if a user wants to
cash-out BDT 50, the cash-out fee is BDT 0.92 (or $.01). “Many bkash customers have such small
tickets, but their large volume compensates for the apparent small ticket size.” As per the central bank’s
prescription, bkash deposits the full value of its customers’ wallet balances in a designated BRAC Bank
account, which is under the surveillance of the central bank. Separately, BRAC Bank maintains the
record of all individual bkash accounts in its own system. “In the process, bkash maintains an
arrangement that is cost effective, but stays fully under the central bank’s jurisdiction.” Once users have
electronic money in their bkash mobile wallets, they can send the money to another bkash mobile wallet
instantly. Recipients can walk to bkash retail agents who give physical cash in exchange for electronic
money and charge service fees. “bkash’s focus on reaching the poor distinguishes it from services that
have fees for cash-in or a minimum cash-out fee.”
7.05 Terms and Definitions
→ Bkash Account – It's a virtual storage of money and can be accessed through mobile phone.
→ After registration, one’s mobile number will be his/her bkash Account number.
→ Registration – Opening a bkash Account on one’s mobile phone.
→ bkash Mobile Menu – The menu one sees after dialing *247#
→ Cash In – Depositing money into one’s bkash Account.
→ Send Money – Transferring money from one bkash Account to another bkash Account.
→ Cash Out – Withdrawing money from one’s bkash Account. One can Cash Out from any bkash
Agent Point or from BRAC Bank ATM.
→ Payment – When one pays from his/her bkash Account to a seller against product or service s/he
purchases.

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→ My bkash – My bkash is an option on one’s bkash Mobile Menu from which one can check
his/her account balance, see mini statement, activate ATM Cash Out service and change your
PINs .
→ bkash Mobile Menu PIN – This is a secret number like a password to secure one’s bkash
Account.
→ bkash ATM PIN – This is also a secret number to be used when one cashes out from ATM.
→ Security Code – Security Code is a onetime PIN. When one cashes Out from ATM, one needs to
generate a Security Code which can be used only once and remains valid for one hour.
→ Transaction ID – A system generated unique reference number against each transaction that is
preserved as identification.
→ USSD Channel - Unstructured Supplementary Services Data Channel, a Gateway that routes
USSD messages from the signaling network to a service application and back. USSD messages
travel over GSM signaling channels and are used to query information and trigger services.
Unlike similar services (SMS and MMS), which are store and forward based, USSD establishes a
real time session between mobile handset and application handling the service.
7.0 6 How to open an bkash Account
To open a bkash Account:
01. Go to any of your nearby bkash Agent along with -
a. Your mobile phone
b. A copy of your Photo ID (National ID/Passport/Driving License)
c. 2 copies of Passport size photographs
02. Fill out the Account Opening Form and put your thumb print and signature properly. Please make
sure that you have taken your copy (customer copy) from Agent and preserve it for future reference.
After opening an Account, you need to activate your bkash Mobile Menu. Follow the steps below to
activate your mobile menu-
01. Go to bkash Mobile Menu by dialing *247#
02. Choose “Activate Mobile Menu”
03. Enter a new PIN for your bkash Account
04. Enter the PIN again to confirm
Done! You will receive a confirmation message from bkash. Please keep your PIN secret all the times.
7.07 Other procedure

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Use following steps to pay now:
You can make payments from your bkash Account to any “Merchant” who accepts “bkash Payment”.
For example, if you want to pay after shopping:
• Go to bkash Menu by dialing *247# ? Choose 'Payment' option by pressing '3'
• Enter our business wallet number : 01768700284
• Enter BDT. amount you have to pay : xxxx
• Enter a reference against your payment : xxxx
• Enter the counter number : 1
• Now enter your PIN to confirm: xxxx
• Done! You will get a confirmation SMS
Check Balance
You can check your bkash Account balance anytime you want from the "Check Balance" option. To
check your current Account balance -
01. Go to your bkash Mobile Menu by dialing *247#
02. Choose “My bkash”
03. Choose “Check Balance”
04. Enter your Mobile Menu PIN
You will see the current and available balance of your bkash Account.
Request Statement
To see a Mini Statement with details of your latest transactions:

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02. Choose “My bkash”
03. Choose “Request Statement”
04. Enter your Mobile Menu PIN
You will see the Change Mobile Menu PIN
For ensuring the security of your bkash Account, it is recommended that you change your bkash Mobile
Menu PIN when you feel that it may have been compromised. To change the PIN:
02. Go to “My bkash”
03. Choose “Change Mobile Menu PIN”
04. Enter your “Old PIN”
05. Enter a new PIN to replace the old one
06. Enter the new PIN again to confirm
Activate ATM
To avail the bkash ATM Cash Out service, you need to activate this feature from your bkash Mobile
Menu. This is a onetime action. To activate the ATM Cash Out service:
01. Go to your “bkash Mobile Menu” by dialing *247#
03. Choose “Activate ATM”
04. Enter a new 5 digit PIN. This PIN will be your “bkash ATM Cash Out PIN” and is better to make it
different from your “Mobile Menu PIN”
05. Enter the PIN again to confirm
You will receive a confirmation message stating that you have successfully activated ATM Cash Out
service.
Change ATM PIN
For ensuring the security of your bkash ATM Cash Out PIN, it is recommended that you change it when
you feel that it may have been compromised. To change the PIN:
03. Choose “Change ATM PIN”
04. Enter your old PIN
05. Enter a new 5 digit PIN to replace the old one
06. Enter the new PIN again to confirm
You will see a confirmation on your mobile that you have successfully changed your old PIN.

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Cash In
To deposit money into your bkash Account:
01. Go to any bkash Agent
02. Let the Agent know the amount you want to Cash In
03. Write down your bkash Account Number and the Cash In amount in the Agent Register
04. Pay the amount of money you want to Cash In
05. In exchange, the Agent will send balance to your bkash Account. Cash In done!
You and the Agent will both get a confirmation message from bkash. Remember to sign the Agent
Register before leaving the counter.
From Agent cash out
If you have sufficient balance in your bkash Account, you can withdraw cash anytime from any bkash
Agent. To Cash Out from your bkash Account:
01. Go to any bkash Agent
02. Let the Agent know the amount you want to Cash Out
03. Write down your bkash Account Number and the amount in the Agent Register
04. Dial *247# on your mobile for the bkash Mobile Menu
05. Choose “Cash Out”
06. Choose “From Agent”
07. Enter Agent’s bkash Account Number (ask the Agent)
08. Enter the amount
09. Enter your bkash Mobile Menu PIN
Done! You and the Agent will both receive a confirmation message. Count the amount the Agent gives
you to make sure it is correct and sign the Agent Register before leaving the counter.
Send Money
Send Money allows you to transfer money from your bkash Account to another bkash Account. To send
money:
02. Choose “Send Money”
03. Enter the bkash Account Number you want to send money to
04. Enter the amount you want to send
05. Enter a reference about the transaction. (Do not use more than one word, avoid space or special
characters)
06. Now enter your bkash Mobile Menu PIN to confirm the transaction
Done! You and the Receiver both will receive a confirmation message from bkash.

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Buy Airtime
Buy Airtime allows you to recharge Mobile Airtime from your bkash Account. You can buy airtime for
your own mobile phone or for someone else's mobile phone.
Follow the steps below –
2. Choose “Buy Airtime”
3. Choose your operator
4. Choose your connection type
5. Enter the 11 digit mobile number you want to buy airtime for
6. Enter the amount of airtime you want to buy
7. Enter your bkash Mobile Menu PIN to confirm
Done! You will receive a confirmation message from bkash.
Currently, this service is available for any bkash Account holder to Buy Airtime for Robi Prepaid
numbers and all Airtel numbers.
International Remittance
bkash brings you the easiest and most convenient way of sending and receiving International
Remittance.
To send International Remittance from abroad to a bkash Account in Bangladesh:
• Go to a participating Exchange House branch
• Let the Agent know that you want to send money to Bangladesh through bkash
• Fill out the bkash related fields correctly on the remittance request form available at the Exchange
House
• The Exchange House Agent will help you complete rest of the process
While sending remittance through bkash, please ensure that:
• Recipient’s number is a bkash Account number and belongs to one of the operators who is partnered
with bkash (currently Robi, Grameenphone, Banglalink or Airtel i.e. 018, 017, 019 or 016).
• The destination bkash Account number is entered as the 11 digit Bangladeshi mobile number starting

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with 018, 017, 019 or 016 e.g. 01XXXXXXXXX. The international dialing and country code should not
be included i.e. there is no “+88”.
• Recipient’s bkash Account number is correct.
• The number has been written clearly & accurately in the correct field.
• The BDT Value of sent remittance does not exceed bkash standard transaction limits.
Countries and Exchange Houses from which you can send Remittance to Bangladesh:
• UAE
- Al Rostamani International Exchange (ARIE)
- Al Ahalia Money Exchange Bureau
- Orient Exchange
• UK
- BRAC Saajan Exchange
Note: To find your nearest Exchange House branch, please click on the name of the respective
participating Exchange House above.
To receive International Remittance on your bkash Account:
• To receive International Remittance through bkash, you first need to have a bkash Account. To open a
bkash Account, go to your nearby bkash Agent along with 2 copies of your Passport size photographs, a
copy of your Photo ID (National ID/Passport/Driving License) and
your mobile phone (Robi/Grameenphone/Banglalink/Airtel).
• Communicate your bkash Account number to the sender. The sender will use this number for
terminating the remittance amount.
• When the money reaches your bkash Account, you will receive a confirmation message on your
mobile phone.
• No charge is applicable to receive International Remittance on your bkash Account. You have to pay
bkash standard Cash Out Charge only when you need to withdraw money from bkash Agent or BRAC
Bank ATM.
Applicable Transaction Limits for sending/receiving International Remittance through bkash:
Transaction Type Per Transaction Amounts Maximum Transaction Amounts
International
Remittance
Minimum Maximum Per Day Per Month
BDT 50 BDT 150,000 BDT 150,000 BDT 150,000

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• A bkash Customer can keep a maximum amount of Tk. 150,000 in his/her bkash Account at any
moment. For example, if s/he has Tk. 50,000 in his/her account, you can send him/her a maximum
amount of Tk. 100,000 in Bangladeshi currency at that specific account.
8. Tariff & Limits
Transaction Limits
Transaction
Type
Maximum Number of
Transactions
Amount Per Transaction Maximum Amount
Per Day Per Month Minimum
(Tk)
Maximum
(Tk)
Per Day
(Tk)
Per
Month
(Tk)
Cash In 5 20 50 25,000 25,000 150,000
Send Money 20 70 10 10,000 10,000 25,000
Buy Airtime 50 1500 10 1,000 10,000 100,000
Payment No Limit No Limit 1 No Limit No Limit No
Limit
Cash Out from
Agent
3 10 50 25,000 25,000 150,000
Cash Out from
ATM
3 10 2,000 20,000 25,000 150,000
International
Remittance
5 20 50 150,000 150,000 150,000
Note: A bkash Account holder can keep a maximum amount of Tk. 150,000 in his/her bkash Account at
any moment
9.0 Make payments at the following outlets using bkash shopping

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10.0 Partners of bkash:
• Robi
• Grameenphone
• Banglalink
• Airtel
• BRAC
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Fundamo, a Visa company

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What is the value of partnerships, particularly with MNOs?
bkash regards partnership as a central theme in any mobile financial service. This includes partnership
with agents, mobile operators, banks, and technology providers; where each one represents an essential
element of the service structure. “It’s not a sprinter’s game, rather more of a rally race, where multiple
partners contribute in assuring the service.” In the case of bkash in Bangladesh, the right partnerships
with mobile operators were essential. The financial regulator, the central bank, had prescribed the bank
or its subsidiary, which is regulated by the central bank, to offer the mobile financial service. The central
bank guidelines in Bangladesh clearly define the role of mobile operators and mobile financial service
(MFS) providers. Mobile operators provide the connectivity between user-owned handsets and servers
of MFS providers. For such connectivity, mobile operators receive revenues from MFS providers. As
the mobile operators provide only connectivity, they have the appropriate incentive to maximize the
volume of connectivity that would be their source of revenue. “This is a replicable model that on one
hand maintains the regulatory integrity and, on the other, offers adequate economic opportunities for the
mobile operators.” After securing arrangements via revenue sharing models between bkash and mobile
operators, bkash managed to secure 98% mobile user access to the service in Bangladesh.
11.0 Benefits of bkash
Fast
bkash is dedicated to widening the net of financial inclusion among the people of Bangladesh by
facilitating money transfer through mobile phones. bkash provides Mobile Financial Services allowing
customers to send, receive, and pay money from their mobile phones. Send and receive money, or make
payments the fastest way there is! bkash enables you to send money to anyone, using an advanced
technology available on your own mobile phone. The recipient will receive money instantly, no matter
where s/he is. Payments through bkash also make your life easier as you do not have to go back home or
anywhere else to get money when you need to buy something and have run out of cash. Even if you
don't have the required amount in your bkash Account, someone else can easily send you the amount in
times of need.
Affordable
Send and receive money with minimal effort and cost. bkash provides the highest benefits to its
customers at an affordable cost, enabling everyone to access the formal financial system of the
economy.
In addition to eliminating initial monetary costs involved in entering the banking system, bkash greatly
minimizes opportunity costs such as time and effort required to access such services. The service
charges are minimal and there are no hidden costs involved.

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Open a bkash Account on your own mobile and experience how bkash saves unexpected and incidental
costs for you.
Secure
Money in your bkash Account won't be lost even if you lose your mobile phone. Every transaction is
protected by your very own PIN and what's more, state-of-the-art technology provided by VISA ensures
that your money is always safe and secure in our system.
Your PIN is your Personal Identification Number that you create when you register for bkash. Each
transaction you make needs to be authorized by entering your PIN. To ensure 100% safety of your own
account, do not share your PIN with anyone.
bkash places a high priority on protecting your information to assure that your transactions and data are
secure with bkash. Our security and compliance practices are regularly audited to ensure that they meet
the highest standards.
Convenient
bkash users enjoy increased convenience of accessing their finances from their own mobile phones
anytime, anywhere. bkash gives you the flexibility to perform transactions 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week, regardless of time and place. "No queues no waiting"; the most convenient way of transferring
money.
Be it on a bus, train, launch, or anywhere else; as long as you have a bkash Account on your mobile
phone, you can access your account and send or receive money in seconds.
The bkash interface also uses a very easy and simple instruction based USSD channel. By dialing *247#,
anyone can transfer money just by tapping a few buttons on his or her mobile phone. bkash is the most
convenient way of transferring your money.
Nationwide
bkash is the easiest and safest way to send or receive money instantly on your mobile, nationwide. No
matter where you are in Bangladesh, bkash is always with you.
Our extensive distribution network with more than 70,000 Agents covering each district and Thana
along with around 300 BRAC Bank ATMs provides you with the nationwide reach and capacity that
you need to avail bkash services at a close proximity.
The service is supported by mobile networks of all the leading MNOs which enable you to access your
bkash Account even from the remotest areas of Bangladesh.

13
12.0 Research on bkash Users
Data Interpretation
Gender Frequency Percentage (%)
Male 90 60
Female 60 40
Total 150 100
Table 1: Gender Of The Respondents
Interpretation: Table 1. Shows that the largest group of respondents was male, at 60% while their
female counterpart was only 40%. This indicates that male is involved much on mobile money transfer
services (bkash) as they use for business transactions. Female has been using (bkash) services mainly to
send money to their family members and other dependents.
Age of the
respondents
No. of Respondents Percentage [%]
Below 25 years 30 20
25-30 years 50 33
30-35 years 40 27
35-40 years 15 10
40-50 years 9 6
Above 50 years 6 4
Total 150 100
Table 2: Age Of The Respondent
Interpretation: The above table shows that 33% of the respondents are between 25-30 years of age,
while 27% of the respondents belong to the age group of 30-35years.this indicates that the mid age
people like students and business persons use the mobile money transfer more. Though 20% of the
respondents were found to be below 25 years at the same time the respondents belonged to the age
group 35-40, 40-45 and above 45 years of old were only 10%, 6% and 4% respectively from where it
can be assumed that elderly people and people of high income tend to use the mobile money transfer
service comparatively less.
Occupational Status No. of Respondents Percentage [%]
Remote village 25 16.6
Advanced village 27 18
Modern village 55 36.6
Urban 43 28.7
Total 150 100

13
Table 3: Geographical Location
Interpretation: The study shows that the largest percentages of the respondents were from the
modern village which is 36.6% in contrast 28.7% respondents were from urban area. It is also found
that 18% of the respondents belong to the advanced village which is followed by16.6% that represents
the respondents of remote village. It can be concluded from the above that people in modern village
where online banking facilities are poor use mobile money transfer much and urban people use this
service in emergencies and to send money where online bank is rare.
Educational qualification No. of Respondents Percentage
[%]
Up to primary 23 15
Above primary to secondary 42 28
Above secondary to higher
secondary
31 21
Higher secondary to graduation 44 29
Post graduation and above 11 7
Total 150 100
Table 4: Educational Qualification
Interpretation: It has been shown by the study that 29% of the respondents are in the group of higher
secondary to graduation which is followed by 28% respondents of above primary to secondary group.
The study also noticed that 21% respondents have above secondary to higher secondary educational
qualification and 15% respondents have no educational qualification or maximum primary education
while only 7% respondents have post graduation and above educational qualification. From the above
statistic can be assumed that people of highest education which has relation with income level use the
mobile money transfer less, because they generally use banking money transfer service. On the other
hand it can be said that students use this mobile money transfer service more bringing their money
from their family. People with low educational qualification use this service more because they transfer
less amount of money and they do not have bank account.

13
Occupational Status No. of Respondents Percentage [%]
Garments workers 60 40
Students 37 24.6
Government service holder 17 11.33
Private service holder 22 14.67
Business person 14 9.33
Total 150 100
Table 5: Occupational Status
Interpretation: The study reflects that 40% of the respondents are garments workers while the second
largest parts of the respondents are students which are almost 25%. The percentage of business
person and private service holder is only 9.33% and 14.67% respectively. On the other hand 11.33%
respondents are government service holders. Again the above table shows that income level of the
people negative relation with the use of mobile money transfer service.
Availability of 24/7 service
Agreeable level of opinion No. of Respondents Percentage [%]
Strongly Agree 18 12
Agree 42 28
Neither Agree or Nor
Disagree
33 22
Disagree 40 26.7
Strongly Disagree 17 11.3
Total 150 100
Interpretation: The study says that 28% respondents simply agreed that bkash service is available 24
hours throughout the week in contrast 26.7% respondents disagreed with this. It was also found that
12% respondents were strongly agreed and other 11.3% were disagreed although 22% respondents
found neutral. So it can be said that in most of the times when necessary bkash service is available
though in case of some emergencies people may found bkash point’s shutdown

13
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
2010 2011 2012 Years
Here we summarizer previous thee yeas transaction that made over the network of b- kash :
Findings :
Based on previous there yeass tnamaction we can show the growth benetits resons for we can show
the growth benefits seesaws for showing interest by more people for using bkash to fuamter receive or
store money :
Progress since launch:
How have things gone so far?
After 17 months of operation bkash now has 30,000 agents, almost one in every two villages in rural
Bangladesh, “this assures access to agents in the remotest part of the country”. The service was launched
on July 21, 2011. It now has 2.2 million registered customers. In addition, 98% of mobile users in
Bangladesh have access to bkash. This kind of penetration is achieved via partnerships with four major
GSM operators of the country.
Scalability:
How is the service being scaled to reach a larger audience?
In the short term bkash plans to stimulate growth through various product innovations which they are
already working on. “These include solutions for international remittance, mobile airtime top-ups, loan
repayments, transport ticketing, etc.” bkash will also be working closely with telecom operators whose
wireless networks are essential for the service. They see that financial institutions and mobile network
providers must work hand in hand if they are to reap the benefits of new technologies in the pipeline.
“This will ensure that services are delivered in an increasingly consumer-friendly way, and if that is
assured, there is no end to how efficiently the poor can manage their resources.”

13
User centric attitudes:
How does the organisation build itself around the end user?
The service has a core objective: to see low income users adopt electronic money as a genuine
alternative of physical money. With this in mind, they understand that a key qualification needed to use
bkash is confidence – “the confidence to believe that one can take control of her financial decisions,
save money, spend wisely and complete transactions in a manner that was never possible before”.
Achieving these levels of user confidence depends upon understanding current user requirements and
habits in detail. Old habits (like keeping the money under a mattress, insecure transfers, and paying high
transfer fees) need to be replaced by new habits (keeping money in a safe digital system, secure
transfers, paying low fees, recognizing the importance of being part of financial inclusivity). The
organisational goal of shifting these old habits to new improved habits depends upon first understanding
and building around the end user.
Workings of bkash
bkash maintains a huge network to provide its services. A simple form of the network is shown below
for illustration.
bkash Vs. SMS Banking
SMS Banking is another innovation in financial services where mobile phone is used. But this service is
quite different from the services provided in mobile financial service. SMS banking is much narrow
form of service provided by financial institutions but often creates confusion for its involvement with
mobile phone. The following table draws clear line in between SMS banking and Mobile financial
services through showing the differences between SMS Banking of Brac Bank and bkash:

13
SMSBanking bkash
Services are
provided
through SMS
Services are provided
through USSD
menu
Very few services (mainly information) are Wide range of services
Provided
No Transaction can be made Transaction can be made
Bank account is required Bank account is not required
No agent involvement Agent involvement is present
Services includes:
Services includes:
♣ Cash In
♣ Instant Account Balance & Mini
♣ Cash Out
Statement
♣ Send Money
♣ Fixed Deposit Maturity Alarm
♣ Payment
♣ High Value Transaction Alert
♣ International Remittance
♣ Account status change alert
♣ Check Balance
♣ Welcome alert (for account opening)
♣ Request Statement
♣ Payment (loan) failure alert
♣ Change Mobile Menu PIN
♣ Cheque clearing failure alert
♣ Activate ATM
Challenges:
What are the internal and external challenges currently faced?
One of the core challenges stems from the perception of technology maintained by low income users.
For example, many users mistakenly think that they require advanced skill to use the technology. A
similar issue arises in that users often think that advanced English is required to use bkash (although, in
fact, very little English is required to use the service). bkash’s education program seeks to overcome

13
these issues, “our menu is so easy to use that, once a user becomes familiar with the steps, she or he can
opt for the required service by simply choosing a numerical input and not have to respond with any text
reply”. (the same point was mentioned earlier: seems repeating) With a longstanding perception that
“advanced and modern things” are not for them, low income users are led to believe that they are
dependent on others for receiving a service. “Breaking this vicious cycle is one of the toughest parts of
taking bkash to a level where physical cash would be obsolete.”
Looking back, looking forward:
What key lessons have been learnt, and what are the organisation’s future objectives?
One important lesson is the difficulty experienced by low income users in activating features on their
phones. However, as phones reaching financially constrained audiences become cheaper, internet-
enabled, and have more intuitive features, bkash is optimistic that this area of difficulty will improve.
“This would increase the ease of accessing services on mobile phones and hence increase mobile
literacy.” bkash have also learned that human contact, one-to-one or one-to-many education and training
sessions, are essential components in their educational efforts. “When our sales teams and agents
interact with individuals and explain the service, users learn very quickly.” Looking forward, bkash aims
to keep contributing to the nation’s socio-economic development. Fundamentally, this is facilitated by
moving increasing numbers of people operating outside the formal banking facility into an expanding
financial system. bkash also makes further use of this system: “All the little amounts can potentially add
up to provide larger pools of capital to address larger problems. The organization is putting all the little
idle bits of capital to use to move the country’s economy forward.
Problem Statement
Mobile banking is a totally new concept in Bangladesh. Although there are some banks that provide m-
banking service but services are different than bkash limited. bkash has some agents in different location
of the country but other bank’s has not agents. They only have ATM boot from where customer can
withdraw money.
Competitors:
The main competitors of bkash limited are
Dutch Bangla bank ltd Mobi cash
Islami bank ltd M-cash
UCBL U-cash
They are also providing some facilities of mobile banking for their customers. They are providing
different types of new offers to improve their business.
Problems and Solutions of bkash limited
Now a day’s bkash limited has gotten a big popularity in Bangladesh. It is the easiest way to sending and
receiving money from any corner of the country to another corner of the country. People can use it
easily, so there are a few problem people are facing for using bkash limited.

13
Problem No 1: No recovery system of Money:
People may make mistake to send their money by using their mobile phone, but there is no recovery
system to recover money from wrong number in bkash limited.
Causes of problems:
As bkash limited is a mobile based banking system, so there are so many causes for occurring this
problem.
a. Someone may input wrong amount of money for sending.
b. Customer may press wrong button of his mobile phone.
c. Customer may input wrong number for sending his/her money.
Solution of problems:
I talked with the employee of bkash limited about the problem; they told me that they are not taking any
types of solution for this problem yet, because sender may cheat with the receiver of money by
recovering money from the receiver after sending money.
Problem No 2: Higher service charge
The service charge of bkash limited is higher than normal banking system. This problem is decreasing
intention of using bkash service to the customers.
Causes of higher service charge:
Sender has to pay a charge for sending money; receiver has to pay some charges also for collecting
money to bkash. On the other hand, receiver has to pay 5 tk commissions to the agents also. After
adding all charges the service charge gets higher.
Solution for the problems:
bkash should provide more money to the agents for savings and agent should also keep some amount of
money in advance which will help them to provide more services to their customers and attract more
customers for using bkash.
Problem No3: Not Available agent
There are so many Mobile recharging shops in different location in Bangladesh. But everybody is not
agents of bkash limited. So, the number of agent of bkash limited is very few in the rural area or village
area of different district in Bangladesh.
Causes of the Problem:

13
Some retailers don’t want to take the risk of money for their clients. If the retailer makes the mistake for
sending money, he has to repay the money to the client because of no recovery systems in bkash limited.
On the other hand, agents get a small amount of commission from bkash limited.
Solutions of the problem:
a. bkash should encourage agents by increasing their commission.
b. bkash should make a recovery system to reduce the agent’s risk.
c. In a special day or occasion like Eid, Puja etc. bkash should provide some mobile agent point in
different location from which customer can collect money by bkash.
Problem No 4: Less External Security
The external security of bkash limited is very lower than normal banking. In a normal bank, customer
makes their transactions after entering an ATM booth or into the bank office. So, bkash service is more
risky than other normal bank.
Causes for the problem:
Most of the shops of agent’s of bkash limited are in open places where people gather everyday. For
example, the shops are situated in a market which is the risky zone for money. Thief may attack the
customers after withdrawing money from bkash as the customers withdraw money in the public place
and less external security.
Solutions of the problem
a. Agents should make some privacy systems for making transactions with their customers
b. Agent may make a private room for giving money to their customers.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that bkash has brought remarkable change to the experience of mobile phone users as
they are now able to get wide range of financial services through their mobile phone. The convenience,
security and speed it provides, has almost banished the other old medium of money transfer in
Bangladesh. It is only a matter of time that its distinctive features and services will soon make it the
most successful and popular financial institution of the country.
12.References
1. Comninos, S. Esselaar, A. Ndiwalana and C. Stork, “M-banking the Unbanked,” (2008)

13
2. Banking Adoption in Pakistan Zohra Saleem and Kashif Rashid International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance,
Vol. 2, No. 6, December 2011 537
3. Anckar and D. D’Incau, “Value-Added Services in Mobile Commerce: An Analytical Framework and Empirical Findings
from a Nationals Consumer Survey,” presented at the 35th Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, 2002.
4. Boyd, C., & Jacob, K. (2007). Mobile financial services and the underbanked: opportunities and challenges for mbanking
and mpayments. Chicago, IL: The Center for Financial Services Innovation.
5. Barnes, S. J., & Corbitt, B. (2003). Mobile banking: concept and potential. International Journal of Mobile
Communications, 1, 273-288.
6. H. Amin, R. Baba, and M. Muhammad, “An analysis of mobile banking acceptance by Malaysian customers,” Sunway
Academic Journal 4, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 2007.
7. J. C Aker and I. M Mbiti, “Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa” (2010)
8. Mallat, N. (2006). Exploring Consumer Adoption of Mobile Payments - A Qualitative Study. Paper presented at the
Helsinki Mobility Roundtable, Helsinki, Finland. Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Mobile
9. M. Mbogo, “The Impact of Mobile Payments on the Success and Growth of Micro-Business: The Case of M-Pesa in
Kenya,” Journal of Language, Technology & Entrepreneurship in Africa 2, no. 1 (2010): 182.
10. M. S Kimenyi and N. S Ndung’u, “Expanding the Financial Services Frontier: Lessons From Mobile Phone Banking in
Kenya,” Washington, DC: Brookings Institution), October (2009).
11. N. Hughes and S. Lonie, “M-PESA: Mobile Money for the" Unbanked" Turning Cell phones into 24-Hour Tellers in
Kenya,” Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization 2, no. 1-2 (2007): 63–81.
12. http://www.brac.net/node/1001
13. Pousttchi and Schurig, Cited in: S. Sinkkonen, P. Laukkanen, M. Kivijarvi, and T. Laukkanen. (2007). “Modeling factors
of Consumer Resistance to Mobile Banking,” presented at the Proceedings of the International Conference on Business and
Information, Tokyo, Japan, 2004.
14. R.Atikur, A M Nayeem, T. Rahat Bari “Mobile Money in Bangladesh” Developing Country Studies ISSN 2225-0565
(Online),Vol 2, No.8, 2012
15. http://www.bangladeshpost.gov.bd
16. http://www.banglalinkgsm.com
17. http://www.bKash.com/bn
18. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Definition_of_mobile_phone_money_transfer
19. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/mobile-money.html#ixzz2X0n4LRbL

Mobile Banking of bkash in Bangladesh

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